More troops to Afghanistan only leads to more resistance – former US official

According to a Pentagon report, despite all the money and effort going into Afghanistan, only a quarter of the population supports the US-backed government. It also says the insurgency is growing.

“Since 2006 the US and the other Western forces in the country along with the Afghan central government have steadily increased their presence,” says Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain who resigned from his post as a US State Department official over the ongoing war.

Mr. Hoh believes resistance will only get stronger, reflecting the increase in the presence of foreign armies.

“As we pump more troops into Southern Afghanistan, what they are going to do is to find more people who are going to resist their presence and who are going to fight them,” says Hoh.

Matthew Hoh believes that both Karzai’s government and the Taliban are ready for negotiations.

“In May, President Karzai is going to visit the US. The assumption is that he is going to ask for President Obama’s assistance in negotiations with the Taliban. President Obama can choose to do that, or he can choose to wait 14 more months until July 2011, and only see thousands more casualties,” says Hoh.